Myths That Menace Selling Success

Selling is a tough job. Anyone who doesn’t think so is not in sales. If you sell, you’re never finished; there is always the next customer, a problem to solve, a crisis need, or a meeting to attend.

If sales is essentially a task of carefully identifying customer needs and meeting them, then much of the folklore and images surrounding selling is nothing more than useless baggage or myths that are passed from one generation of salespeople to the next as if they were sacred-and infallible-truth.

In the current business and consumer environments, the myths inhibit salespeople from closing more sales. They impede performance. Salespeople can be far more successful if they free themselves from the constraints of worn out and outdated beliefs. A place to begin rethinking selling is with these seven myths:

Sales myth #1. “It worked then and it will work now. Our salespeople just need to work harder.” Sure, some don’t work very hard and others don’t work smart, but most salespeople want to be conscientious and successful. The major problem is not with salespeople. Far too often sales managers fail to recognize that today’s environment is quite different from the way it was when they started in sales. It was probably a time when face-to-face contact was essential. While there’s value in continued personal contact, the customer has far less time today to “see people.”

Sales myth #2. “Selling still takes the personal touch.” It does, of course, but it all depends on what is meant by personal. In the past, salespeople talked about having ‘a great relationship’ with their customers. Whether this meant taking them to lunch, dinner or a golf outing, or getting them tickets to a sports event, making the sale depended on some type of “bonding.”

A significant shift has taken place, and salespeople sense it. While the old trappings linger in some industries more than others, the best way to define “personal touch” today is being good at what you do, taking a personal interest in the customer’s success, and serving as a resource for the customer.

Sales myth #3. “A good salesperson knows how to push the customer’s hot buttons.” Anyone adept at selling focuses attention on the customer and listens carefully for buying cues. Unfortunately, that’s all many salespeople do. They don’t attempt to probe and develop a larger perspective or a deeper understanding of the situation. Rather than working to meet the customer’s needs, they stop with wants.

More often than not, these turn out to be “one time” sales. It doesn’t take much for the customer to figure out that what was purchased and whether or not it failed either to satisfy expectations or to meet objectives.

Sales myth #4. “I know my customers like I know the back of my hand.” Yesterday’s salespeople often viewed themselves as “gatekeepers,” as intermediaries between the company and the customer. They were the only ones permitted to make direct contact.

While knowing customers is essential in selling, it is extremely dangerous to assume that knowing implies having a hold on the customer. You may know your customers but you may not know what they are doing and thinking. Salespeople are no longer the only source of information for customers.

Sales myth #5. “When it comes right down to it, it’s always price.” “Let’s face it. Customers are only interested in price.” While there is always some price sensitivity, what customers really want is value for their dollar. However, this does not mean their only interest is price. If that were true, no one would be writing with a Mont Blanc pen.

Sales myth #6. “Successful sales is a matter of overcoming objections.” Sales trainers jump on this one. They see selling as overcoming one objection after another. “When the salesperson has exhausted every objection, it’s time to ask for the order,” they say. There are variations, but that’s the theme. After all the objections have been wiped away, the customer has no alternative but to buy.

If anything, objections are an indication that the salesperson has missed the experience the buyer is seeking, whether selling to consumers or businesses. Just answering objections does not necessarily lead to the sale.

Sales myth #7. “Selling is a game. The goal is to outsmart the buyer.” Here’s the most pervasive-and perhaps-the most destructive myth of all. It describes sales as a game. “Winning” is a matter of the salesperson outsmarting or outmaneuvering the customer-getting the best of the customer. As one sales trainer expressed it: “It’s getting the customer down on the floor and putting the gun to his head.” That’s the game.

While all that may make everyone’s heart go pitter-pat at least for 45 minutes, it can’t mask the myth that selling is a game. It isn’t. It has nothing to do with winning and losing or getting some so-called “advantage.” Sales is a process of aligning the resources made available by the salesperson with the needs of the customer. This takes skill, knowledge and competence.

Demythologizing sales may be the beginning of selling in the New Economy. Getting rid of dysfunctional myths sets a salesperson free to meet customer needs.